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The Tab key in the Evernote for Windows client, as in most text editing/word processing programs in Windows, does not change focus to the next control. Instead, it tries to emulate a tab key operation: if you're not in a bulleted list, it will insert 5 spaces at the current insertion point; otherwise, it will indent the current list line or selection.

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I'm quickly creating a new note with the keyboard (CTRL + N) and focus defaults to the Note Body (probably understandable). I want to start with the Note Title so I Shift + TAB (generally go back a field) and it just places 5 spaces in the note body. I locate the mouse, click in the Note Title (which is now called 'Untitled note' as I've entered some text in the note body) delete the existing title and write my title. I hit TAB (to advance a field) to go back to the Note Body and focus goes somewhere random (I think to the Notebook selection panel). Locate mouse again, click in Note Body and actually start writing my note.

This is such a workflow killer. I've already switched task away from the thing I was working on to make a quick note, to delay me, force me to use the mouse (and annoy me in the process) is a little disappointing.

Can we please get some sanity to the focus order?

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Tab/focus order in the Windows Evernote client haven't been anywhere near usable for some years. You won't be able to tab out of the editor, for one, as Tab and Shift+Tab have meaning to the editor, as noted above. You might be interested in the Windows client keyboard shortcuts here: https://evernote.com/contact/support/kb/#!/article/23168552, for better navigation of the Evernote UI, though it doesn't like like they'll help in the specific use case that you mentioned.

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I'm quickly creating a new note with the keyboard (CTRL + N) and focus defaults to the Note Body (probably understandable). I want to start with the Note Title

You can start in the note title by default, but it requires updating a key in the registry (as usual, be very careful when updating the registry).

Make sure to exit Evernote completely before updating the registry or your change will not take effect. The key you're interested in is "SetNewNoteFocusToTitle" - just set it to 1 and restart Evernote.

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I'm quickly creating a new note with the keyboard (CTRL + N) and focus defaults to the Note Body (probably understandable). I want to start with the Note Title

You can start in the note title by default, but it requires updating a key in the registry (as usual, be very careful when updating the registry).

Make sure to exit Evernote completely before updating the registry or your change will not take effect. The key you're interested in is "SetNewNoteFocusToTitle" - just set it to 1 and restart Evernote.

emerick, thanks for participating and responding to our concerns here in the forum.

But could you please explain why Evernote does not follow the standard form tab order that has been in place for decades?

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I'm quickly creating a new note with the keyboard (CTRL + N) and focus defaults to the Note Body (probably understandable). I want to start with the Note Title

You can start in the note title by default, but it requires updating a key in the registry (as usual, be very careful when updating the registry).

Make sure to exit Evernote completely before updating the registry or your change will not take effect. The key you're interested in is "SetNewNoteFocusToTitle" - just set it to 1 and restart Evernote.

That's useful to know - thanks for taking the time to update us.

My problem is less with the default behaviour (either starting in the note title or note body) but more with navigating between the two. Setting the registry key to start in the note title is just going to annoy me when I want to start with the note body. (Actually, at least if I start in the note title I can press return to move to the note body, so that might be slightly better than the current functionality. Although, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to persuade my brain to add this exception to the 20 years of navigating with the Tab key...)